This invention relates to a removable gripping device for a container, particularly a removable handle for a pot or a pan, adaptable to different container thicknesses.
A removable gripping device for a container of the type comprising two members forming a gripper mounted on a gripping body is known, in which one of the members forming the gripper is free to move in translation with respect to the gripping body, along a direction approximately parallel to the longitudinal direction of the gripping body between an open position and a closed position in which the members forming a gripper are adapted to grip an edge of the container, the removable gripping device comprising displacement means adapted to displacing members forming the gripper with respect to each other, said displacement means comprising a lever free to move in rotation with respect to the gripping body between an extended position and a retracted position in which the mobile member forming a gripper is in the closed position, and a transmission means extending between the lever and the mobile member forming a gripper adapted to displacing the mobile member forming a gripper in translation when the lever is pivoted, said displacements means being adapted to adjusting the distance separating the two members forming a gripper to the thickness of the gripped container.
Such removable gripping devices are described in patent applications FR 2 739 772 and FR 2 768 914.
The removable gripping device described in document FR 2 739 772 comprises a locking means adapted to prevent separation of the mobile member forming a gripper when the mobile member forming a gripper is in the closed position. Since this means is formed by two racks arranged on the lever and on the mobile member forming a gripper and adapted to engage in each other in order to maintain the mobile member forming a gripper in its position.
However, the efficiency of this locking means is limited for separation distances of members forming a gripper in a closed position for which the two racks are perfectly located with respect to each other so as to enable perfect cooperation by engagement, in other words when the vertices of a first rack are exactly in position in the bottoms of the other rack. Furthermore, the racks system cannot give an efficient locking means when the container carries a high load.
Thus, removable gripping devices according to prior art enable adjustment of the distance separating the two members forming a gripper in the closed position to the thickness of the gripped container, but cannot prevent a large load in the gripped container from setting up a lever effect on the two members forming a gripper, and consequently separating them from each other (up to the distance corresponding to the maximum thickness of containers that can be gripped) thus causing separation of the container from the gripping device (particularly if the container has a thin edge), which means that there is a risk that the contents of the container that the user is lifting could spill on himself or herself, and consequently a risk of scalding if the container was on a hot plate.
One problem that arises is to make a removable gripping device in which when the members forming the gripper in the closed position cannot be moved towards a closed position designed to grip a container with a thicker edge, even if the displacement means are adapted so that the distance separating the members forming a gripper when in the closed position can be adjusted to suit the thickness of the gripped edge.